These Learning Links provide ten quick-and-easy, five-minute mini-lessons to promote student thought and dialogue about service and civic engagement. You may use as many of them as you wish, and in whatever order best meets your needs and the interest of your students. The purpose of these mini-lessons is to provide a deeper understanding of philanthropy (the giving of time, talent, and treasure for the common good) and to reinforce the lesson focus. These Learning Links also promote the development of character traits, civic engagement, and student leadership. As appropriate to your grade level, it is recommended that students play an active leadership role in presenting these mini-lessons to their classmates.

1. Read: She stood on the busy street corner handing out daises she’d picked from her family’s garden. To those passing by, she was just another street person looking for a handout. But she wasn’t just “another street person looking for a handout". She was a high school honor student doing research for her sociology class. Her assignment was to give away something without any “strings attached” and record people’s reactions. What she discovered was that people on this busy street were not use to selflessness and real generosity. Her free offerings were rejected by many, leading her to conclude that perhaps it wasn’t worth trying to do something nice for people. After all, everyone seemed to be convinced that “everything has its price tag” and “nothing is free in this world.” Sharing her rejection with the class, led to a discussion about giving. The general consensus among her classmates was that if giving flowers gave her pleasure she should keep doing it. Perhaps others would eventually see her sincerity and change their attitude. Maybe they would even become “flower-givers” themselves!
   
   Discuss: The girl in this story met with people who were suspicious of the expectations and conditions behind the flowers that were given to them. Could we encounter a similar reaction to our service project? How might we counter this suspicion? Do you agree with the conclusion of her classmates that if giving flowers gave her pleasure she should keep doing it? Why or why not? How important is it that we feel “pleasure” in what we are doing?  How might we encourage our peers to become “flower-givers” as well?
   
    
2. Read:  “If you build it, he will come.” This is a line taken from the movie, Field of Dreams starring Kevin Costner. It is a fanciful movie about an Iowa corn farmer who hears voices and interprets them as instruction to build a baseball field on his farm. The voices were those of “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and seven other Chicago White Sox players caught up in a 1919 World Series scandal. They were asked to lose the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds on purpose. They were accused of being part of a fraud to “fix” the game and were band from playing baseball for the rest of their lives by the commissioner of baseball. Their ghosts tell Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) to build a baseball field so they can play once more.
   
   Times were tight and money wasn’t easy to come by but that didn’t stop Ray from building that baseball field. His neighbors would stop along the road to watch and heckle him as he plowed under his valuable corn. When he finished, he waited and soon the ghosts came. The movie ends with a long line of cars approaching the baseball field. They were coming to watch the game.
   
   Some critics think that the line “If you build it, he will come” carries a double purpose in the movie. First, and most obvious, to “attract” deceased baseball players, but more importantly to inspire others to build their dreams.
   
   Discuss: This is a movie about realizing a dream. Why do you suppose that people would heckle someone trying to realize their dream? Ray Kinsella decided not to listen to the hecklers but to continue in his pursuit of his dream. Why might that be important advice for anyone? During our service project how are we giving some of our valuable time and using it to build relationships? In what ways might our service project not only accomplish what we are setting out to do, but also serve as an inspiration to others who might come to “watch our game”?
   
    
3. Read: Search and Rescue operations are led by emergency services. Those involved in these operation are most often well-trained volunteers who search for people thought to be in trouble, lost, sick, injured, or feeling unwanted. Search and Rescue teams have been known to work in remote and/or difficult-to-access areas such as mountains, deserts, forests, oceans and seas, as well as urban and war torn areas. There is another search and rescue-type nonprofit organization known as Search Angels. Their goal too, is to seek out and reunite people with their loved ones. These volunteers give of their time and talents to help families touched by adoption. They seek answers for a birth mother or an adoptee reaching out to birth parents. By exploring registries and on-line research, they try to help an adoptee find answers to their questions and their roots. The people who volunteer at Search Angels are people just like you. They don’t need a lot technical skills, just a willingness to help people.
   
   Discuss: One of the more often used excuses for why someone chooses not to participate in events like our service project, is that they lack the necessary skills. How can a willingness to help sometimes overcome feelings of inadequacy? In what ways might our service project help create a sense of inclusion for those who find themselves in “remote” and/or “troubled areas”? How might our event help people feel encouraged and appreciated for who they are?
   
    
4. Read: Some young people between the ages of 11 and 15 admit that they have problems using their talents. These problems deal with many things like: perfectionism, competitiveness, an unrealistic judgment of their talents, being rejected by peers, confusion due to mixed messages about their talents, parental and social pressures to achieve, and sometimes problems with expectations that are either too low or too high. Some talented young people even report difficulties in finding and choosing friends, a course of study, and, eventually, a career. Psychologists report that among the problems we all face is the problem of ownership. We "own" our talents and abilities. Yet we question whether or not they really exist. In such cases, researchers have identified patterns of disbelief, doubt, and lack of self-esteem. They call this the impostor syndrome! We ask ourselves, “What if it isn’t so? Maybe I’m just pretending?” “Could they just be saying that to make me feel better?” Even though we sense and are told that we do have some talents and abilities, we still are not sure if our parents or our teachers are being honest with us. Then there is that powerful thing called peer pressure. Wanting to “fit in” often causes young people to deny and even hide their talents and abilities.
   
   Discuss: Have you ever tried to convince someone that they were good at something only to have them tell you that they were not? If so, how did you handle that situation? Is it okay to feel good about the things you do well? Since everyone has talent and ability, how can we encourage our peers to avoid the impostor syndrome? What are some ways we can encourage everyone to use their talents and abilities during our service project to help make our world a better place?
   
    
5. Read: “Akiane.” Do you recognize her name? Akiane is an internationally well known highly talented teenager. She is considered the only known binary genius teenager in both realistic painting and poetry. Born on July 9, 1994, she began drawing at age four and painting at age six. She speaks four different languages, one of which is sign language. She has already been selected as one of the twenty most accomplished visual artists in the world. She was inducted into the Kids Hall of Fame, and she has written two books: Akiane, Her Life, Her Art, Her Poetry and My Dream is Bigger than I: Memories of Tomorrow. It is Akiane’s desire that people find faith, hope and inspiration in her work. Because of her talents and the manner in which she is using them, she has appeared on Television shows like: Oprah, Good Morning America, World News Tonight, Fox News, The Hour of Power, Life Today. She has also been featured in such magazines as the Time, Sun, The Press, Business Journal, The Grit, and The Evening Magazine. Her web site averages 150 million hits a year. So what does she do with all the money she raises using her talents? A very large portion of the money raised from the sales of her paintings and poetry goes to charity.
   
   Discuss: Do you think Akiane always knew that she had talent? Is there something that you sense deep down in your deepest thoughts and perhaps never shared with anyone that makes you feel that you might have a unique, special talent or ability? What might motivate Akiane and people like her to get up at 4 a.m. 5 to 6 days a week to work 4 to 5 hours each day on paintings that require 100 to 200 hours of work to complete? As we think about sharing our talents and abilities during our service project, what can we learn from this story about Akiane?  What are some of the ways we could respond to the comment “Yeah, she can do all those things because she’s got talent, I don’t have talent”?
   www.artakiane.com/home.htm
   
    
6. Read: The class officers of Somewhereville High School were assigned, as a part of school’s Spirit Week to design posters to be placed in local businesses announcing the planned events for Homecoming. Ericka thought it was a stupid idea to make every class officer participate.
   
   “I don’t have talent!” she moaned to her friends.
   
   Mockingly they responded, “So, do you think we do?”
   
   That night alone in her dad’s basement workshop, she decided she would show them she had no talent. Grabbing the poster board each class officer received she laid it out on the basement floor atop newspapers. Taking her dads spray paint cans and left-over house paint, she went to work making a mess of things. Lines and circles, squares and triangles appeared on her poster board while globs of paint filled in uncovered areas. She applied cloth scraps and anything else she could find to glue to the surface. When she finally felt that she had made a satisfactory statement as to her artistic ability, she hung it up to dry.
   
   The next day she made out the announcement that would accompany it, titled the poster “Ridiculous”, and brought it to school knowing that it probably would be placed in some remote spot if displayed at all. When all the posters were collected, Ericka breathed a sigh of relief assuming that at least that was finally over. Little did she know that it was just the beginning! The word around Somewhereville High School was that Ericka’s poster later sold at an all school auction for approximately $2,500.00.  Not only was she selected by the community’s Center for the Arts as the “Local Young Artist of the Year”, she also received a scholarship to attend the college of her choice following graduation.
   
   “And to think,” Ericka said later, “had I not participated, how much different my life would be. Even though I’m still not convinced I’m really an artist, the fact that others can appreciate what I do is enough for me.”
   
   Discuss:  Can you share a time when things worked out even though you were certain they wouldn’t? Do you think that “not being an artist” is a pretty common feeling among our peers? Like Ericka, sometimes we are required to do things that we feel we are not good at. In what ways might we use Ericka’s story (or our own story) to encourage others to try it? How might thinking about the recipients of our service project(s) help to encourage us to involve ourselves in this event?
   
    
7. Read: Art and Creativity of Healing is a program designed to help children, teens and adults express their feelings using art. These programs help encourage and motivate participants feel better about their circumstances (death, divorce, abuse, stress, illness, natural disaster, etc.) using art. Art helps give them more understanding, confidence and hope. Those who create this art, as well as those who view it, benefit. That is why Art for Healing collects art work from these Art and Creativity of Healing programs. They are displayed in places like hospitals, hospices, community clinics, children's centers and retirement homes. These collections are intended to help people who come to these places feel better. In addition, the art on display in these places gives them a more comfortable and cozy feeling. When asked why they would choose to donate their art work in this way, most of these children, teens and adults will tell you that they hope their art will help others to feel better, too.
   
   Discuss: One artist said of her work, “My art is like a love letter from me to you.” As we make plans for our service project, in what ways are we hoping our art will make others feel better? In what ways might our involvement in our service project help us feel better as well? What do you think the artist meant when she said, “My art is like a love letter from me to you”? Whom do you think “benefits” more from a love letter, the person who wrote it or the person who receives it? Why?
   
    
8. Read: Phil Jackson is the current head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, an American professional basketball team. Mr. Jackson is widely considered one of the greatest coaches in the history of the National Basketball Association. He takes an artistic approach to the game and his coaching. He calls it a holistic approach that is influenced by Eastern philosophy. It has earned him the nickname “Zen Master”. Mr. Jackson also applies Native American spiritual practices as documented in his book Sacred Hoops. He emphasizes the notion of selfless team play. He is quoted as saying concerning his coaching success, "Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the ‘me’ for the ‘we.’"
   
   Discuss: Our service project has a great deal to do with individual talents. In what ways is it also intended to be a team effort? The idea of a Holistic Approach is based on the premise that "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." Our service project is intended to create a “whole”, great team from individual contributions. How might we surrender the ‘me’ for the ‘we’ and display “selfless team play” during this event? What are some ways we can measure and determine if our service project is a success?
   
    
9. Read: Many television stations are now carrying what is known in the business as Reality TV. These shows have become very popular and seem to be growing in number. The Biggest Loser, The Bachelor, Extreme Makeover, Survivor, Dancing with the Stars, and Big Brother are all drawing record viewing crowds! Why? The Journal of Consumer Research was interested in the answer. They went in search of an answer to that question. What they found out and later reported was that people tend to find a certain fascination in contrasting what they think they would do in a given situation to the actions taken by the “real” participants — a group of individuals they perceive as their peers. Unlike other shows such as News programs or sitcoms, Reality TV allows viewers to imagine themselves as actual participants. While some people question just “how real” these reality shows are, it does not cancel out the fact that people are drawn to watch them. There is something about the human psych that seeks to be involved mentally or physically. We are not made to sit on the sidelines. No one really likes to be a bench-sitter while the rest of the team is in the field. Even our physical body rebels against being a couch potato. Numerous illness and diseases have been attributed to lack of physical involvement as has mental illness being attributed to a lack of metal stimulation.
   
   Discuss: In what ways is our service project bringing us face-to-face with a “reality” situation? Why might what we do during our service project be important to the recipients of our efforts? In what ways might what we do during this event be important for our own development? How can we convince “sideliners, bench-sitters, and couch potatoes” to join us in “the game”?
   www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/
   story/0,,1787252,00.html
   
   www.aphroditewomenshealth.
   com/
   news/20070429041343_
   health_news.shtml
   
    
10. Read: In his poem entitled Talent’s Not Enough, Timothy A. Davis reminds us that talent and dreams are wonderful things to have, but they’re not enough to accomplish what you want to accomplish.  Business consultant John C. Maxwell took it a step further. He wrote an entire book entitled Talent’s Never Enough. While both of these writers would quickly agree that talent and dreams are necessary things to have, they would be equally quick to say that if this is all you have there’s something very important that is missing. The missing ingredient is desire backed by hard work. It takes dreams, talent, and desire backed by hard work to accomplish anything worthwhile.
    
    Discuss: What might Mr. Davis be telling us that we need to keep in mind as we plan our service project? What might the old adage, “Begun is half done!” have to say about starting and finishing projects such as our service project? How can we be of encouragement to fast-start fizzlers (those who start out all excited but soon lose their enthusiasm and want to drop out)? How can we be of encouragement to slow-start sizzlers (those that hesitate at first but get excited about the project and want to join in later)?
    www.poetryamerica.com/read_poems.asp?id=314135